Rejected because it was too far ahead of it's time, or just a piece of junk? 
Yep, a 44 gallon drum in the boot with room to spare!
I think the six cylinder model was no good. Bit of a stupid selling point being able to fit a 44 gallon drum in the boot. It would break your back getting a drum with anything in it in or out of the boot.
I don't think I ever saw one on the road.
All I remember were they were supposed to have an aluminium V8 in them I think, and maybe decent vented front disc brakes.
I think the thing about being able to fit a 44 gallon drum in the boot was just a way to emphasize the boot size, not to actually carry them.
My uncle had one and he liked it. It was a company car. I vaguely remember it as I was young when he had it. The son of a friend of my parents collected them. I saw a paddock with about 20 P76s. I've seen one recently on the road. A very unusual sight.
Yes it was a marketing tool about the 44 gallon drum.
there was a nice looking lowered/magged one in currumbin waters many years ago when i lived down that way. they had huge space in the rear wheel arches for fat tyres, like the xa-xc coupes
i saw a lot of p76 in vic when i was a kid. someone had an early model galant/mitsubishi sigma wagon with the alloy leyland v8 in it
to this day, isn't it considered to be the only real "australian" designed and built car?
Sorry, I prefer that one:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/General-Discussion/Chat/Ferrari-F12-and-Four-Sets-of-Tyres/
if you prefer the I-talian models, you might like the other popular victorian car of the time
i present you the "w$g chariot"
They were good cars especially the V8 but let down by some trim faults and styling quirks. Correct me if I'm wrong but body was originally designed by an Italian studio, looked nice by Leyland made the boot bigger and F'd up the grill and rear. I got to give a V8 a spin mid 70's and it drove very nice.
Ironically become a classic due to being hated. That's weird.
I dunno what is wrong with the styling, looks very similar to a Valiant or Falcons of similar age.
I used to own one, early eighties bought it for a work car to cart 4 blokes and all gear. Used to work away for a week at a time and back before speed cameras and before the getting of wisdom we would flog that V8. To this day it is still the most comfortable car to ride in I have had.
They were prone to vehicle fires if rear ended that's why they failed .
Massive media witch hunt at the time .
That said we used to bore them out to take Holden pistons .
Grind the cranks down to take the rover con rods which gave them a longer stroke and bingo a five litre alloy v8.
They were very popular with the racing crowd at the time I did so many I thought there cant be any left on the road.
My parents had one for years - V8 alloy.
Brilliant car, and had design features way ahead of it's time in Australia - rack and pinion steering, power-assisted disc brakes, McPherson strut front suspension, front hinged bonnet, glued-in windscreen and concealed windscreen wipers. the alloy engine saved 230kg of weight.
There were quality issues on some - the rule was never get one that was built on a Friday or a Monday!!!!
Ours was flawless (must have been a wednesday car) and that boot could hold everything needed for two weeks of camping for a family of four - and we had a LOT of camping gear....
I reckon the first big oil crisis in 1973 was what killed it. No one wanted big yank tank fuel guzzlers - and it was thirsty....
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
They were prone to vehicle fires if rear ended that's why they failed .
Massive media witch hunt at the time .
That said we used to bore them out to take Holden pistons .
Grind the cranks down to take the rover con rods which gave them a longer stroke and bingo a five litre alloy v8.
They were very popular with the racing crowd at the time I did so many I thought there cant be any left on the road.
How does changing the con rods give a longer stroke?
Or, was the crank ground eccentric to the original diameters?
Select to expand quoteSkid said..actiomax said..
They were prone to vehicle fires if rear ended that's why they failed .
Massive media witch hunt at the time .
That said we used to bore them out to take Holden pistons .
Grind the cranks down to take the rover con rods which gave them a longer stroke and bingo a five litre alloy v8.
They were very popular with the racing crowd at the time I did so many I thought there cant be any left on the road.
How does changing the con rods give a longer stroke?
Or, was the crank ground eccentric to the original diameters?
I can't tell if you are being funny or not but..
I'm not actiomax, but regrinding the journals off-centre, further out, to suit a smaller diameter of a different rod gives you a longer stroke. Similarly if you wanted to, you could grind them off-centre the other way and give the engine a shorter stroke, or grind them on centre for a smaller rod if you want to keep the same stroke.
